Mauritius

World Facts

Introduction

Background

Although known to Arab and Malay sailors as early as the 10th century, Mauritius was first explored by the Portuguese in the 16th century and subsequently settled by the Dutch - who named it in honor of Prince Maurits van NASSAU - in the 17th century. The French assumed control in 1715, developing the island into an important naval base overseeing Indian Ocean trade, and establishing a plantation economy of sugar cane. The British captured the island in 1810, during the Napoleonic Wars. Mauritius remained a strategically important British naval base, and later an air station, playing an important role during World War II for anti-submarine and convoy operations, as well as the collection of signals intelligence. Independence from the UK was attained in 1968. A stable democracy with regular free elections and a positive human rights record, the country has attracted considerable foreign investment and has one of Africa's highest per capita incomes.

Geography

Location

Southern Africa, island in the Indian Ocean, about 800 km (500 mi) east of Madagascar

Geography - note

the main island, from which the country derives its name, is of volcanic origin and is almost entirely surrounded by coral reefs; former home of the dodo, a large flightless bird related to pigeons, driven to extinction by the end of the 17th century through a combination of hunting and the introduction of predatory species

Religions

Demographic profile

Mauritius has transitioned from a country of high fertility and high mortality rates in the 1950s and mid-1960s to one with among the lowest population growth rates in the developing world today. After World War II, Mauritius’ population began to expand quickly due to increased fertility and a dramatic drop in mortality rates as a result of improved health care and the eradication of malaria. This period of heightened population growth – reaching about 3% a year – was followed by one of the world’s most rapid birth rate declines.
The total fertility rate fell from 6.2 children per women in 1963 to 3.2 in 1972 – largely the result of improved educational attainment, especially among young women, accompanied by later marriage and the adoption of family planning methods. The family planning programs’ success was due to support from the government and eventually the traditionally pronatalist religious communities, which both recognized that controlling population growth was necessary because of Mauritius’ small size and limited resources. Mauritius’ fertility rate has consistently been below replacement level since the late 1990s, a rate that is substantially lower than nearby countries in southern Africa.
With no indigenous population, Mauritius’ ethnic mix is a product of more than two centuries of European colonialism and continued international labor migration. Sugar production relied on slave labor mainly from Madagascar, Mozambique, and East Africa from the early 18th century until its abolition in 1835, when slaves were replaced with indentured Indians. Most of the influx of indentured labor – peaking between the late 1830s and early 1860 – settled permanently creating massive population growth of more than 7% a year and reshaping the island’s social and cultural composition. While Indians represented about 12% of Mauritius’ population in 1837, they and their descendants accounted for roughly two-thirds by the end of the 19th century. Most were Hindus, but the majority of the free Indian traders were Muslims.
Mauritius again turned to overseas labor when its success in clothing and textile exports led to a labor shortage in the mid-1980s. Clothing manufacturers brought in contract workers (increasingly women) from China, India, and, to a lesser extent Bangladesh and Madagascar, who worked longer hours for lower wages under poor conditions and were viewed as more productive than locals. Downturns in the sugar and textile industries in the mid-2000s and a lack of highly qualified domestic workers for Mauritius’ growing services sector led to the emigration of low-skilled workers and a reliance on skilled foreign labor. Since 2007, Mauritius has pursued a circular migration program to enable citizens to acquire new skills and savings abroad and then return home to start businesses and to invest in the country’s development.

Health expenditures

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Drinking water source

improved:
urban: 99.9% of population
rural: 99.8% of population
total: 99.9% of populationunimproved:
urban: 0.1% of population
rural: 0.2% of population
total: 0.1% of population (2015 est.)

Sanitation facility access

improved:
urban: 93.9% of population
rural: 92.6% of population
total: 93.1% of populationunimproved:
urban: 6.1% of population
rural: 7.4% of population
total: 6.9% of population (2015 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate

0.88% (2015 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS

8,200 (2015 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths

400 (2015 est.)

Obesity - adult prevalence rate

18.8% (2014)

Education expenditures

5% of GDP (2015)

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and writetotal population: 90.6%male: 92.9%female: 88.5% (2015 est.)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)

total: 15 yearsmale: 15 yearsfemale: 16 years (2014)

Unemployment, youth ages 15-24

total: 25.1%male: 20.1%female: 32.6% (2014 est.)

Government

Country name

conventional long form: Republic of Mauritiusconventional short form: Mauritiuslocal long form: Republic of Mauritiuslocal short form: Mauritiusnote: island named after Prince Maurice VAN NASSAU, stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, in 1598

International law organization participation

Citizenship

citizenship by birth: yescitizenship by descent: yesdual citizenship recognized: yesresidency requirement for naturalization: 5 out of the previous 7 years including the last 12 months

Suffrage

18 years of age; universal

Executive branch

chief of state: President Ameenah GURIB-FAKIM (since 5 June 2015); Vice President Paramaslyum (aka Barlen) Pillay VYAPOORY (since 4 April 2016)head of government: Prime Minister Sir Anerood JUGNAUTH (since 17 December 2014)cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers (Council of Ministers) appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime ministerelections/appointments: president and vice president indirectly elected by the National Assembly for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 4 June 2015 (next to be held in 2020); prime minister and deputy prime minister appointed by the president, responsible to the National Assemblyelection results: Ameenah GURIB-FAKIM (independent) elected president by the National Assembly - unanimous vote

Legislative branch

description: unicameral National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (70 seats maximum; 62 members directly elected in single- and multi-seat constituencies by simple majority vote and up to 8 seats allocated to non-elected party candidates by the Electoral Commissioner's Office to ensure fair and adequate representation of each community and party in the Assembly, as outlined in the Constitution; members serve 5-year terms)elections: last held on 10 December 2014 (next to be held by 2019); note - the National Assembly was dissolved on 6 October 2014, resulting in early electionselection results: percent of vote by party - Alliance Lepep 49.8%, PTR-MMM 38.5%, FSM 2.1%, OPR 1.1%, other 8.5%; elected seats by party - Alliance Lepep 47, PTR-MMM 13, OPR 2; appointed seats Alliance Lepep 4, PTR-MMM 3

Political pressure groups and leaders

Lalit Political Party
Rezistans ek Alternativ (Resistance and Alternative)
Say No to Coal!other: various labor unions

Judicial branch

highest court(s): Supreme Court of Mauritius (consists of the chief justice, a senior puisne judge, and 17 puisne judges); note - the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (in London) serves as the final court of appealjudge selection and term of office: chief justice appointed by the president after consultation with the prime minister; senior puisne judge appointed by the president with the advice of the chief justice; other puisne judges appointed by the president with the advice of the Judicial and Legal Commission, a 4-member body of judicial officials including the chief justice; all judges serve until retirement at age 62subordinate courts: Court of Civil Appeal; Court of Criminal Appeal; Public Bodies Appeal Tribunal

Flag description

four equal horizontal bands of red (top), blue, yellow, and green; red represents self-determination and independence, blue the Indian Ocean surrounding the island, yellow has been interpreted as the new light of independence, golden sunshine, or the bright future, and green can symbolize either agriculture or the lush vegetation of the island

National anthem

Economy

Industrial production growth rate

2.8% (2016 est.)

Economy - overview

Since independence in 1968, Mauritius has undergone a remarkable economic transformation from a low-income, agriculturally based economy to a diversified, upper middle-income economy with growing industrial, financial, and tourist sectors. Mauritius has a

The economy currently rests on sugar, tourism, textiles and apparel, and financial services, but is expanding into fish processing, information and communications technology, and hospitality and property development. Sugarcane is grown on about 90% of the

Mauritius' sound economic policies and prudent banking practices helped to mitigate negative effects of the global financial crisis in 2008-09. GDP grew in the 3-4% per year range in 2010-16, and the country continues to expand its trade and investment ou

Telephones - fixed lines

Telephones - mobile cellular

Telephone system

general assessment: small system with good servicedomestic: monopoly over fixed-line services terminated in 2005; fixed-line teledensity roughly 25 per 100 persons; mobile-cellular services launched in 1989 with current teledensity roughly 130 per 100 personsinternational: country code - 230; landing point for the SAFE submarine cable that provides links to Asia and South Africa where it connects to the SAT-3/WASC submarine cable that provides further links to parts of East Africa, and Europe; satellite earth station - 1 In (2015)

Broadcast media

the government maintains control over TV broadcasting through the Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), which operates 3 analog and 10 digital TV stations; MBC is a shareholder in a local company that operates 2 pay-TV stations; the state retains the (2007)

Internet country code

.mu

Internet users

total: 672,000percent of population: 50.1% (July 2015 est.)

Transportation

National air transport system

number of registered air carriers: 1inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 13annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers: 1,466,527annual freight traffic on registered air carriers: 168.773 million mt-km (2015)

Military expenditures

Transnational Issues

Disputes - international

Trafficking in persons

current situation: Mauritius is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking; Mauritian girls are induced or sold into prostitution, often by peers, family members, or businessmen offering other forms of employment; Mauritian adults have been identified as labor trafficking victims in the UK, Belgium, and Canada, while Mauritian women from Rodrigues Island are also subject to domestic servitude in Mauritius; Malagasy women transit Mauritius en route to the Middle East for jobs as domestic servants and subsequently are subjected to forced labor; Cambodian men are victims of forced labor on foreign fishing vessels in Mauritius’ territorial waters; other migrant workers from East and South Asia and Madagascar are also subject to forced labor in Mauritius’ manufacturing and construction sectorstier rating: Tier 2 Watch List – Mauritius does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so; in 2014, the government made modest efforts to address child sex trafficking but none related to adult forced labor; law enforcement lacks an understanding of trafficking crimes outside of child sex trafficking, despite increasing evidence of other forms of human trafficking; authorities made no trafficking prosecutions or convictions and made modest efforts to assist a couple of child sex trafficking victims; officials sustained an extensive public awareness campaign to prevent child sex trafficking, but no efforts were made to raise awareness or reduce demand for forced adult or child labor (2015)

Illicit drugs

consumer and transshipment point for heroin from South Asia; small amounts of cannabis produced and consumed locally; significant offshore financial industry creates potential for money laundering, but corruption levels are relatively low and the government appears generally to be committed to regulating its banking industry